Transcript

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>> For some Hungarian's being a small fish in a big EU pond is proving hard, even for the residents of Poroszlo in Eastern Hungary, home to Europe's largest freshwater aquarium. It was opened thanks to a 6.5 million Euro contribution from Brussels and has been visited by a million or so tourists since 2012.

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Of course those residents can see the benefits of EU membership but even so consider Brussels an external force that imposes its rules and values on them.>> They put limitations on us in many areas. They set conditions on how the money should be spent or they want the money or they're the migrants.

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They want to direct us, try to tell us what to do.>> Hungary joined the EU in 2004, and is the third largest recipient of EU funds in former Communist Eastern Europe, behind Poland and Romania. That's contributed to investment and boosted Hungary's economy, which is expected to grow by 4% this year.

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Many Hungarians were less keen to accept to share of the million or so refugees who flooded Europe in 2015. Issues like immigration have chipped away at support stay in the block. A recent survey by global think tank, GlobeSec, found that 75% of Hungarians would vote to remain in the EU.

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Last year, that figure stood at 79%, while the leave camp has increased from 14 to 18% during the same period. Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orban, remains a firm Euro skeptic.>> What we need isn't Europeans' money, but their market. If we've got access to their market, then we'll make our own money.

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From the point of view of the Hungarian national interest, yes, and so the European Union is not the EU funds, but the access to their far bigger EU markets, and this is why we must stay within the EU.>> For its part, Brussels recently proposed giving less of the block's money to Eastern Europe.

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And more to Italy and other Southern states hit by the economic and migration crises. Hungary says it would oppose any reduction in EU funds, including agricultural subsidies, as that could hit its sizeable farm sector.